This invention is in the field of security devices such as safes or lockboxes for holding valuable possessions. The lockboxes described below are intended for use in homes, apartments, hotel or motel rooms where guests stay, and similar locations where people reside, which require moderate levels of security for protection against thieves. These lockboxes are not intended for use in banks or other business establishments that require higher levels of security for protection against armed robberies.
As used herein, the term "lockbox" refers interchangeably to a lockbox, safe, or strongbox with an enclosed compartment designed for holding valuable possessions and with access provided by a door that can be locked or unlocked by an operator (presumably the owner) using a key, combination, or other unlocking device or information to actuate the lock which controls the door. The term "lockbox" implies portability, in the sense that a lockbox can be physically lifted and carried (when disengaged, if necessary, from any securing or attachment devices) by one or perhaps two adult men. It excludes car trunks and other automotive-type enclosures, and it excludes vaults that are permanently affixed in a non-movable manner, such as in a wall recess.
Various types of lockboxes have been created for locking away valuables (cash, credit cards, travellers'checks, car titles, stock certificates, jewelry, cameras, etc.) or potentially dangerous items, such as guns, hunting knives, fireworks, or liquor bottles in homes with children or teenagers. Some are heavy, so they cannot be carried away easily; others are camouflaged or hidden, while still others are bolted, welded, or otherwise securely affixed to structural members such as floor beams or walls.
The goal of such lockboxes is not to provide absolute security; instead, the goal is to withstand a break-in by a thief who is in a hurry and who wants to steal valuables as quickly as possible, without making excessive or suspicious noises, and then leave quietly.
The goal of moderate security to withstand common break-ins is illustrated by various items of prior art, including U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,746 (Caton 1980). This patent discloses a lockbox for use in hotel closets, in which the lockbox is positioned in a closet and secured to the closet floor using a stud. Such studs were not described or illustrated in the patent; presumably, the term "stud" as used in that patent refers to a threaded shaft (comparable to a steel bolt) which is permanently mounted in the floor, extending upwardly from the surface of the closet floor. The lockbox shown in the patent has a small round hole in the bottom panel. That hole is positioned over the stud as the lockbox is lowered onto the closet floor. A large flat washer is then presumably placed over the stud, and a threaded nut is screwed down tightly on top of the washer to hold the lockbox securely in place.
This arrangement appears to be feasible and potentially useful, but it has at least two important limitations. First, the lockbox must be already installed in the closet before a guest arrives; it is not portable, and it cannot be brought to a hotel by the guest and installed by the guest during his stay at the hotel. If a hotel does not provide such lockboxes in its closets, then the lockboxes will not be available for use by guests. In addition, this approach requires installation of a stud that is permanently affixed so that it rises up out of the floor of the closet. Depending on how a closet floor is designed, what is beneath it, and the materials of construction, this might pose a difficult and expensive obstacle to installation. There is also a potential risk of removal; if a stud is installed in a closet floor by drilling through the floor and penetrating the ceiling of the next lower level, so that a large bolt can be pushed up through the ceiling into the closet floor, this poses a risk that the bolt might be removed from below.
Also of interest as prior art are U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,426 (Lyons 1977) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,880 (Lacka 1985). Both of these patents relate to relatively small rectangular lockboxes that can be affixed inside a drawer of a cabinet, dresser, desk, or similar piece of furniture. However, both such devices suffer from a weakness: a drawer that holds such a lockbox can be removed fairly quickly from the cabinet, dresser, or desk that holds the drawer; if the drawer is restrained within the furniture by, for example, a small piece of wood, it is not difficult for a thief to pry the drawer out using a small tool. Both the drawer and the lockbox can then be carried away by the thief. For example, if a hotel is being "worked" by a thief who knows the hotel provides small lockboxes in room drawers for guests, the thief can show up with a suitcase large enough to hold an entire drawer enclosing a lockbox. Pretending to be a guest, he can sneak or break into the room of a guest who is out, quickly pry the drawer out of the cabinet or dresser that holds it, put it in the suitcase, and then walk out of the room and leave the hotel or motel calmly. The suitcase can even be on wheels, to handle the extra weight of the lockbox.
Accordingly, one object of this invention is to provide a home or hotel-type safe or lockbox which is large enough to hold valuables, guns, or other possessions, which cannot be stolen by a thief without requiring excessive time and noise.
Another object of this invention is to provide a portable closet lockbox that can be installed quickly and easily by a guest in the closet of a hotel or motel, without requiring any tools or any holes to be drilled in a closet wall or floor. This type of portable lockbox can be transported in automobile trunks by travelling businessmen, vacationing families, etc. The owner can quickly and easily install the lockbox in a hotel closet when checking in, and remove the lockbox and carry it away when checking out.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a relatively long lockbox capable of holding rifles, that is hidden from sight and unobtrusive. In view of the antagonism often generated by debates and arguments over gun control, many rifle owners feel uncomfortable having a rifle case standing out in open sight, where any guest (or thief) will immediately see it upon entering the room. Even when rifle cases are securely locked inside a bracket that is firmly bolted to the wall to resist break-ins, the owner might prefer to keep the entire case out of sight, and conveniently out of the way of ordinary traffic in the room.
These and other objects and benefits can all be accomplished by the lockbox invention described below.